It's only a date if you want it to be

[snapkaboom]

who: Roy Mustang, Freya, and anyone else who volunteered to give Roy a tour in exchange for dinner.
what: Dates I mean, kind ladies offering Roy a tour of the city.
when: After Roy talks to Ed and Al and gets his mind blown
where: All over the place
warnings: Casual flirting. Will update if needed, but not expecting too much.



Roy rubbed his temples as he left the Elric brothers. He had quite a lot to wrap his mind around. If ending up in a place where worlds collide wasn't enough, he now had to deal with people from parallel universes and just...

He needed to relax and find himself a date.

Thankfully, one of the people who responded to his earlier network post seemed to be available. He had multiple replies, all from very lovely women who couldn't pass up an opportunity to be treated to dinner by a fine gentleman. He sent a message to them, letting her know he was free and was willing to come pick her up at a location of her choosing.

Comments

[stumbledfromtheashes]

“What would you like to know?” Iona returned with a smile. There was a considerable amount to tell. History, blights, darkspawn. The Dalish. The Inquisition. It was just a matter of where to start.

And that was as good a place as any. “Yes. I don’t know if there’s anything by that name in your world,” she couldn’t help but think about her conversation with Billy, and the subject of parallel worlds that had come up during it, “but in Thedas it’s an organization that came back into existence as a result of what basically amounts to a civil war between mages and Templars.” Although that had become only a part of what they had dealt with. “And turned into the only force to really stand against Corypheus in his quest for godhood.” Which would have very bad consequences for the world were he to succeed.

[snapkaboom]

Roy felt like he was dropped into the middle of a fantasy epic. Mages and quests for godhood, huh? As fantastical as it sounded, it certainly wasn't boring.

"I can't say there's been any kind of inquisition that I know of in Amestris." The proper words to use for what went on there would be 'massacres' and 'genocide.' "I'm afraid you lost me at 'mages and Templars.' What were they fighting about?"

As they talked, they continued down the sidewalk wherever Iona lead them.

[stumbledfromtheashes]

“That is... complicated.” Which was putting it mildly. “Incredibly so.” But there needed to be some explanation, a bit of groundwork laid. “The Templars are an order who nominally watch over mages, with the ability to counter their magical abilities if needed. They’re also tasked with hunting apostates and malificars. And mages are ostracised and treated with fear more often than not. Overall. In Tevinter mages are in charge.” She was getting off topic a little. “They were fighting about their treatment, about the rights of mages to live as they choose, rather than being forced into a Circle. And maybe fighting because they could, now.”

A complicated issues. Most things seemed to be complicated, in Thedas.

And they were certainly diving right into the intricacies of her world, weren’t they. She wasn’t a mage, hadn’t any magical ability at all until the Anchor, but she couldn’t help but understand where they were coming from. Elves had their own... difficulties, were treated badly in a different way from mages, but there was enough that she felt for the mages. Particularly the ones that had been thrust into a war they hadn’t asked for, simply because they were a mage. It was why she’d offered an alliance to them, rather than conscripting them or siding with the Templars. Why she gave them a chance to help fix this. “And Orders and Circles are made of people. Good, and bad, and everywhere in between. And drastic actions were taken long before I got involved that help light the fuse in the first bloody place.”

[snapkaboom]

Roy understood from experience that civil wars were always complicated. Even though the Ishvalan campaign was more or less staged to happen, the murder of that Ishvalan child wouldn't have sparked the violence it did without the previous tensions over religion and other issues that had been deteriorating Amestrian and Ishvalan relations. There were some names and places Roy didn't have much context for, but he didn't need them to understand that one group had felt like they were mistreated by the other.

"I see. I'd be surprised to learn about any world where there weren't tensions between different groups of people. Amestris is no different in that regard."
Granted, magic and mages didn't exist, but that wasn't really the issue here. "And you got your position right in the middle of everything?" She had hinted at it with her comment about lighting fuses.

[stumbledfromtheashes]

“Some things remain the same no matter what world you call home.” Iona couldn’t help but think of Billy, and their conversation. “Good, and bad.” Kindness, prejudice. Tensions between those that were different.

“I suppose I did, yes. I was attending a conclave, an attempt to bring an end to the war between mages and Templars. Corypheus decided to use it for his own ends, and I interrupted his attempt to activate a magical artefact he’d crafted ‘to assault the heavens’.” She rubbed absently at her left hand, where the Anchor now burned, hidden under her fingerless glove. “There was an explosion. I was the only survivor.” A wry smile twisted at her lips. “When I stepped out of the Fade it was believed that I had been delivered there by Andraste herself, and they called me her Herald. Despite the fact that I’m an elf and don’t actually subscribe to that particular religion.”

She’d pointed out the ears. A lot.

“The appointment to leader of the Inquisition came a little bit later. After I brought a mountain down on my head and Corypheus’ army to buy my people time enough to escape.” She could mostly joke about it now, although she still hated the cold, and snow.

[snapkaboom]

Roy hadn't been expecting Iona to open up about her own life story so quickly. He knew full well that it was an advantage to keep some information to yourself, and you had to be careful about what you let other people know. Perhaps that was a cultural difference, or perhaps it was a result of Roy's own experiences in dealing with a corrupt puppet government that kept his mouth shut on the details of what was happening in his own world. Trust was something that shouldn't be given out lightly, and giving it to the wrong person could have dire consequences. This was something he learned the hard way.

He noted her fidgeting with her hand, but decided not to ask of it. Instead, he tried to make sense of what she was saying. "So this Corypheus wanted the war to continue?" Probably to take advantage of the two groups fighting to usurp power while everyone else was distracted maybe? "I'm afraid I don't know what you mean by the Fade, nor do I know who Andraste is."

Ah yes, her ears. Roy wasn't sure if calling her out on looking like an elf would have been offensive to her or not, but now that she called herself one, it seemed like an open topic. "There aren't any elves from my world. Is it just that physical difference, or is there more to it?"

[stumbledfromtheashes]

It was the surface details. All factual and known by the Inquisition at large. Although she couldn't help the mildly sarcastic additions here and there. But the personal bits, the parts that were important, made a difference to her, weighed on her (Adamant, the horrible future she’d travelled to with Dorian, and so many others), those she kept closer to her chest.

Trust was something she was careful with. She trusted, in varying degrees, most of her companions and advisors; even if for some of those it had been damaged. But she’d agreed to tell him about her world, and there were details that were necessary. “He manipulates, uses those he can to advance his plan. So the chaos the war sows benefits him.” Demoralises, hurts innocents and gives him room to move unnoticed. “Andraste is the prophet of the primary religion in Thedas. And the Fade, the Beyond, is a realm of spirits, once home to the gods if you listen to the tales of my people. It’s where people go mentally, when they dream. Going there physically is impossible.”

Or it was, anyway. Until she’d done it. Twice.

“The physical differences are the most immediately noticeable, but our history and culture are as well.” Their experiences in the world, too, but that was something she planned to avoid bringing up for the moment.

[snapkaboom]

Iona's description of Corypheus reminded him very strongly of the homunculi he had been dealing with before he had been pulled into the quarantine. He didn't know the details of what they were up to yet, but he did know that they had been pulling the strings behind every conflict Amestris had been involved in, using the people and soldiers for their own benefit. He decides not to comment on it, not wanting to sour the mood with too much worries from home.

Roy didn't have much interest in religion or mythology, but he knew he had to understand the culture people came from in order to understand the people themselves. He found the idea of the Fade to be an interesting one. "That's interesting. Dreams are just considered a part of your unconscious where I'm from. There are people who look for meaning in them, but I've ever been interested in such things." His dreams generally weren't good ones anyway.

"There are many different cultures in my world as well, though they're all human cultures. Unfortunately, Amestris seems to have more trouble working with those from different backgrounds." It had more to do with the top of the government wanting to force conflict on certain areas more than the attitude of the people, though the army followed its orders without question, and that certainly said something about them as a culture. "It's something I'd really like to change."

[stumbledfromtheashes]

Iona would have questions enough about his world, should the occasion arise for her to ask them. She was curious to learn about this Amestris of his. And the different human cultures he spoke of.

“The Fade can be shaped by dreams, as well as the spirits and demons that reside there, and mages tap into it when they cast their spells.” She laughed softly. “It’s a complicated, rather involved subject.” A little bit more so, for Iona, now that she’d gone there physically. Twice. “According to the Chantry the Fade is the realm the Maker formed the physical world from.” She’d done a little bit of reading, after the Conclave. “My people call it the Beyond, and believe it is a holy place that was once the home of the gods.”

That he wanted to change that situation in his world made her like him just that much more. “I’m glad to hear that,” she told him quietly. “Nothing changes without someone first having the desire to do so.”